The present disclosure generally relates to gaming apparatus, and more particularly to gaming apparatus having a configurable control panel.
Gaming units, like many controllable devices, often need to provide the capability for receiving different types of user input such as selecting among different choices at a given stage of a game and/or presenting various different sets of choices, for user selection, depending on which of multiple stages of a game have been reached. For example, many gaming units are configured to provide a main game component and a “bonus” game component in which the bonus component is not necessarily played as a part of each “round” of the main gaming component, e.g., in which the bonus game is only played in response to one or more predetermined outcomes of the main game component. In many situations, the bonus game involves user activation of user input or controls for functions which are different from functions which appear in the main game component.
Some previous approaches to design of gaming units involved including a plurality of different mechanical switches which may be activatable or usable at different times during the stage of a game. A “mechanical” switch may be a switch which is activated by touching or pressing a switch activation surface, which may cause the switch activation surface to move. As used herein, a mechanical switch, however, does not include a touch screen device in which touches of a region of, for example, a display device are detected. The variety of different types of user inputs which are typically provided in games designed to maintain user interest and entertainment has meant that a relatively large number of such mechanical switches have been provided in previous designs. In some devices, a single mechanical switch is used for two or more functions with each of the two or more functions being displayed on the button activation surface.
In these conventional gaming units, the switches or buttons are typically located on a lower section of a gaming unit, while the display unit is spaced vertically above the buttons. Consequently, the player must frequently look up and down during game play. Such repetitive motions are a strain to the player's head, neck, and eyes, particularly for players wearing bi-focal lenses. Additionally, the player's hand must still repeatedly raise and lower to access various control buttons of the game while simultaneously looking up and down to view the results of button presses.
More recently, many gaming units include an integral display unit and touch screen interface, which positions both game control and viewing functions in the same location. The touch screen may be located on the primary display, and therefore oriented substantially vertical, allowing the player to look in a horizontal direction during game play. Alternatively, or additionally, the touch screen may be located in a secondary location separate from the primary display, such as the control panel described in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/662,755. When positioned in a secondary location, the touch screen may be oriented substantially horizontal. In either case, the touch screen is substantially planar, and therefore may require excessive arm, hand, or finger movement to contact different areas of the screen.
In addition, these touch screens may be surrounded by a gasket to prevent moisture from entering between the metallic gaming cabinet and the touch screen. However, the metallic cabinet material adjacent to the touch screen frequently causes non-linearities and substantially reduces the operable interface area of a touch screen for a given cut-out area of the cabinet. Consequently, the touch screen images must be smaller, or the cabinet cut-out and overall touch screen size must be larger, to accommodate for the limited screen surface area caused by the metallic interference of the gaming cabinet.